military commanders say the bodies of at least fifteen people were found after a raid on a safe house sparked suicide blast and a gun battle overnight on friday it happened in the eastern area of calm and i why still had claim to be behind the attack saying three of its members. detonated the explosive vest security remains tight throughout the country with warnings of further attacks. now reports to us from colombia. security forces in sri lanka conducted more raids and made more arrests on saturday in the western town of which is one of the towns that was attacked on sunday police conducted raids in a mostly muslim neighborhood and made several arrests including the deputy mayor and then in the eastern town of trincomalee navy police arrested a man and found on him joe explosives as well as more than two hundred detonators in the east is also where police conducted house to house a great looking for suspected gunman a day off to

a gunfight that erupted between fighters and security forces now all that these developments showed just how fragile the security situation is how quickly it can deteriorate and of course the latest developments lend even more weight to what authorities have been warning the possibility of further attacks. and the hunt for suspects after the easter sunday bombings in security forces to this neighborhood in the town of carbonite on the east coast. shortly after they arrived they say they came under attack a gun battle ensued and some of the fighters are said to have set of explosions in a house where at least fifteen bodies including that of children have to be recovered. the argument that we believe at least three people died from a suicide bomb inside regarding the civilians who lived in the times they were probably family members a mother and daughter were taken to the nearest hospital. when soldiers raided what

they had identified as a safe house in another area of on power district they found explosives bomb making materials a suicide vest and i saw. more raids are expected. at st anthony's trying to. cleaning crews have replaced the emergency teams that were here just a few days ago they've begun to play out the debris from the blas a soldier has got the premises with fears of more attacks sunday services have been suspended indefinitely security remains tight especially around mosques and churches nearby businesses have closed their doors. to. these three days. go by as the search continues for more of those behind the easter sunday attacks this surveillance video has been released it shows one of the bombers entering the kingsbury hotel in the capital. carrying

a backpack he checks in and goes to his room he would back down and detonated his explosives. the owner of another targeted her tel spoke with another man who also later set off a bomb. it's very good three of them are women that are going to be in he came and asked for a room we gave one to him it was just for twenty four hours he gave his identity card and the passport and pretended to be visiting from abroad he had a big bag and a handbag. the government continues to face criticism for failing to prevent the attacks despite warnings weeks before the bloodshed but officials say they fear more suspects with access to explosives are still on the loose. the president's office has taken the decision to ban two muslim organizations now one of them is the national. the government blames a splinter group of this organization for carrying out the attacks on sunday now

the president's office also says they are considering banning more extremist organizations but they have not named them meanwhile the security situation in sri lanka is so tense that the catholic church leaders in colombo have taken the extraordinary step of suspending sunday mass indefinitely. let's discuss this and more with a fellow at the center for conflict security and terrorism at nottingham university how would you describe the government's efforts lanka and finding and identifying the perpetrators of the easter sunday bombings well it seemed to have accelerated those efforts after the event the first huge number of people there appears still to be looking for many of those people so i think those efforts on what we call hald counterterrorism appear to be a very serious and appeared to be having an effect they clearly aren't satisfied that they've got everybody who is why the emergency is still continuing hence why

many of the the worship mini's on sunday have been cancelled in churches so i think it is ongoing it seems to be. effective but it's too early to say whether they've managed to do with this issue once and for all and appears to be an ongoing situation doesn't it that does not suggest that there could be further attacks well certainly there are reports some archbishops saying they've been shown intelligence reports that indicate that we further attack the problem with intelligence reports is that they're actually divided or between two types one is a tip off which is somebody said to somebody that they might be doing something and another one which would be more specific about a particular attack which is through an intercept or through a reliable source within the group and it was that second tip off or that the warning that came just days before the bombings at the churches and the hotels on

sunday it was it was a specific off wasn't on i think there was the most specific reporter i have ever seen of an event i mean the indians either have surveillance on these people or they have a source within the group because they were talking about names they were talking about addresses they were talking about people who are in hiding from the government but saying they're visiting their families at this time between these times so you know it is incredibly detailed and for them to say then that we believe they're going to attack catholic churches and possibly the high commission suggests to me that this was intelligence that should have been taken very seriously it wasn't speculative intelligence as perhaps the intelligence before nine eleven was a very persevering perhaps even the intelligence that. abdulmutallab the underpants one was father gave to the cia in nigeria so this is

a very pacific piece of intelligence the indians have given the syrian to them and it's also become clear from the scale and. cation and the types of explosives is that that was outside help i sell as claim that it was the work of its fighters how deep might the connection have being to i so well i think that's an area that we need to keep an open mind over i'm not sure that we have anything other than verbal claims from i thought i says remember when i saw who were essentially part of al qaeda there were breakaway movement there is some evidence to suggest that there really combining and certainly ayman al-zawahiri the head of al qaida made two decisions over the last couple of years one was to look eastwards in the direction of india syria longer on the far east but also he had always kept the door open for isis or i saw members to rejoin archiver they just thought that they

were being impatient with this premise sure that aeration of a caliphate here believes that they've learned their lesson so i wouldn't be surprise if it's a q. or i says a.q. combined effort the extremist networks are networks of networks i have contacts all of the world so are i wouldn't say it was definitely high so i don't think they have a command and control center that's a coordinated international operations such as this it may just be some element somewhere possibly in the sub continent that has helped with this thank you. thank you. or now one person has been killed in a shooting at a synagogue in the u.s. city of california three others were injured in the attack on the shabbat synagogue and are being treated in hospital but he say they were called to the scene as around eleven thirty am local time just half an hour after celebrations have begun

to mark the final day of passover a male suspect is in custody and is being questioned by police. and as well as opposition leaders called on his supporters to take to the streets on may first forty called the largest march in the country's history one guy joe wants to keep the pressure on president nicolas maduro to leave power. his supporters have been holding more protests in caracas calling from a duro to go. away moment. the moment has arrived and it is over go back to the streets the first to go. through the call. to take part. that is we ought to liberate our country. were supporters have been holding their own rally in solidarity with the president he has refused to stand down despite international and regional pressure but there is accused of presiding over a corrupt government that's left the country struggling with nationwide power cuts and worsening economic conditions. well two months ago around

a thousand security force personnel heeded the call offend as well as opposition and defected to neighboring colombia and there they remain stuck in limbo still waiting for their orders in the fight against president nicolas maduro. spoke to some of them in the border city of kooky. was they abandoned their posts and crossed into colombia they were greeted as heroes was born in one thousand members of the security forces defected two months ago they promised loyalty to. the leader of venezuela's opposition in self appointed the interim president they expected they would soon help house president nicolas maduro. we're doing the right thing in my message to military families is the time is now i that's not proven to be the case my daughter remains in office and the defectors feel they've been abandoned

left to worry about their fate and that of their families back home. william can seem is the only member of in this way less feared special forces known to have deserted me i want to have this hope that in a few days we were going to act and begin what they call operation freedom to topple the door on this criminal posse instead it was his family members who felt they had to flee after reportedly receiving death threats and you get down day kills me having to stay here standing idly by you knowing what's happening inside the country but this is the situation we're here with nothing to do with we can't work and can't send money back home i'm thankful for the food and shelter but we want to do what we came here to do. most of the venezuelan defectors are reluctant to speak to journalists some are being sheltered by the united nations others financially supported by in this way less opposition the day we have arrived fifty were at risk of being on the streets since the opposition had not paid their bills

. i don't understand how they are being so responsible after we answer the call leaving our country and our career the result is that we are increasingly divided and many have already left representatives of the venezuelan opposition tell us that they were surprised by the number of venezuela military forces that defected back in february and they're trying to come up with a plan to deal with them in the long term especially if the political situation in venezuela doesn't change. however why those so-called ambassador to colombia refused to comment the colombian government says they're doing what they came to assist they clearly have larger expectations which the common government is not responsible for we try to take care of them as we do with the other one point two million venezuelan migrants in colombia within its way less political seal meat dragging on those who risk all to support change wait and wonder if their gamble will pay off as some of them just you know. mexico is struggling to

cope with unprecedented numbers of migrants seeking a new life over the border in the united states many thousands of migrants have walked all the way from guatemala honduras and el salvador despite warnings from president trump that they're not welcome and his money it up i found out in chiapas day some mexicans are running out of patience as well. outside a small church in thought i love mexico several dozen central american migrants are taking a break from the exhausting heat for most of these people faith centers like this church are among the few places left where they still feel welcome. to notice it all in is from us and is here with eight members of her family she says she was recently chased down by mexican immigration agents and hasn't found much sympathy from the mexican people but the same with them when this they think we're criminals but we're not it's true there are all kinds of people in the caravans but we're

being cursed for the sins of others some places we've been one even let us use the toilets and my kids have been denied water how could you deny a child water we're all human beings. over the past few months in mexico there's been a shift in public opinion toward migrants many business leaders in the state of chiapas have closed their doors to central americans publishing videos online for training migrants is disease ridden criminals people in chiapas no longer come out to donate food and water like they once did it would appear the migrant caravans have worn out their welcome. to grow neatly veta also from ondo to us says that without support from local communities migrant shelters are a last resort but the shelters can't provide for everyone no one was saying is that coming up we're going to say like you know now you were not on this journey because we want to hurt anyone and we're here because we want to better lives for our families we would never hurt anyone here in mexico they are brothers and we respect

them but at the same time we wish they would stand by us because i do feel there is a lot of discrimination against us migrants and that is not fair. several hundred migrants have gathered along the train tracks their goal is to head as far north as possible. we're standing atop a train car in the town of arriaga in southern mexico many migrants who are worried about being detained while walking on the side of the road will opt for hopping on one of these freight trains this one's called la or the beast but hopping on top of one of these trains carries its own risks and over the years many migrants have died falling off the sides of these train cars right. just before sunset migrants began to rush the train many of them women with young children. no longer feeling safe traveling in caravans it appears migrants are resorting to the back roads and train routes of the past even if it means a whole new set of risks. measured up and disease mexico.

well still to come for you on the program catalonia dominates debate ahead of spain's election on sunday with some separatist leaders campaigning from prison. south africans mark twenty five years since the end of apartheid that much of the country continues to suffer from economic hardship and sport hitting the big time we take a closer look at this most talked about young player. hello is unusually stormy in the northwest of europe it was the turn of arland on saturday then that spinning low you see the satellite picture trust england overnight his journeys across the north sea the low countries is bringing cold air as well which actually spread a long way across europe so thirteen degrees london might feel

a little bit better because of the sunshine but i wouldn't guarantee sunny eleven in paris and raining the white obviously shows how cold it can be was snow i mean all those types of the out some beyond the temperature diffident you may not be the be obvious to you but it was such degrees on friday down to thirty nine sussex on sunday some to your recovery hungry in serbia but not much and this is miserable for germany for poland and austria we're down to the teens now and with that northerly breeze on a moscow is feeding more cold air into the mix so it's still miserable come monday the sun's out there for france and the british isles things are improving a little probably heavy swords so that's the european mainland which means nothing much is happening in the mediterranean that spain and portugal you saw nothing much going on twenty seven robot but a cloud maybe no worse than that the real heat that was around in libya has dropped off a bit and he's thirty four now in the middle now on the coast we're down to about twenty rather better there in current.

time the family of the still navigating dangerous rapids from the time we depart to the time we finish are scared to the fisherman dicing with death. i'm afraid of falling i'm afraid of dying but if i don't go i copied my family to meet the men who go to the extreme just to make a living god you have to be a strong swimmer otherwise it's safe and risking it all vietnam on al-jazeera. the latest news as it breaks. out of north. carolina. parents and. burnings the first started raining to the brim to detail coverage of protests most of pocket cost was on the level as an example of those drops in the digital space going from around the world loss leaders and others where the water is once more rushing down the drain on the world going through

a period triggered barely begun to reform. our compact quick look at top stories this hour sudan's opposition and the army have reached a deal to form a joint civilian and military transitional council that follows a series of meetings between the two sides and for tomorrow on saturday. as president has banned two groups accused of being behind the suicide bombings that killed more than two hundred fifty people fifteen people died after police raided a safe house in the east sparking suicide blasts and an overnight gun battle. and mozambique's government has urged people to move to higher ground in the wake of

another powerful psych fearing widespread flooding and mudslides in the days ahead . nicholas finney is save the children's response team leader in mozambique he joins us via skype from the northern city of we appreciate you taking the time to speak to us i know you must be very busy at the moment i think you or at least one of your teams have had a chance to visit me a district now this is one of the hardest hit areas how are people there coping and what did your team find on have as it. well they find very heavy damage to shout eighty to ninety percent of roofs were lost and they found people's families and children. really just pulling together the remains of a great thing of housing to try and take some shelter from the rain that's been ongoing and the other thing that they found was that really people have been quite

terrified they've been out in the open for thirty six as it and it's estimated that the winds from the cycling were blowing extremely hard for about twenty four hours they passed over some of these places and these these are areas where there's not really any experience of this type of storm and in living memory so really quite terrifying and leaving populations in a state of shock. and right has been focused for several days now we've also been speaking about the risk of flooding are you why that conditions could actually get much was especially if the stone why to intensify in some way yeah absolutely it would be a double hit so of course says the risk of flooding as you mentioned which can be. something that might cause landslides in the areas we concerned about and then there's also a prediction that the store and ask back over the sea and re intensifying into

another cycle in and we would be able to say where that would go. it's a very scary scenario for people already faced so much in the last couple of months in mozambique this appears to be the first time that mozambique has been hit by two site close in one season how is this going to affect poverty stricken communities in the country. well very badly and the first thing to say is that the response. to disasters is receiving a relatively low level of funding so far so we're really happy that you're giving this coverage we dodged that those that can sit there and make money and we're really pushing governments as well to top up the u.n. appeal cyclon it die twenty five percent of the funding that is required that

responses so far come from governments another donors around the world and there's a huge shock today in central mozambique still that's alone what weeknights crabbed in the north country oh well thank you very much and we also wish you the best of luck with all of your work and efforts out there nicholas finney joining us from save the children and pemba. fifty three prisoners have been freed from a taliban jail in afghanistan they were found during a raid by afghan national defense and security forces in along the edge in zabul province the prisoners were mainly military and police officers but eight civilians were also being held some had been imprisoned for up to two years and tortured a taliban members were also killed during the operation. but i am a persian says he hasn't ruled out syrian forces backed by russian air palin launching a full scale assault on syria's ablett province but not at the cost of civilian safety russia and turkey brokered a deal in september to create

a demilitarized zone in the northwest adlib region moscow is one of the syrian government staunchest allies but is worried about increasing violence in the area. usually shift through and you get a short term wish from prior to taking such actions we always coordinate it with president assad but we need to factor in the presence of civilians unfortunately they suffer those civilians under the oppression of the terrorists who are located there in great numbers we need to balance the scale of what is happening in this is own with the civilians being oppressed by terrorist groups and the potential cost of battle actions. archon president vladimir putin says he's considering offering fast track russian passports to all ukrainian citizens is already signed an order this week simplifying the process for those living in separatist parts of eastern ukraine to obtain a russian passport the region's include done yes going to hands which were seized by russian backed separatists in two thousand and fourteen after russia annexed

crimea from ukraine who isn't also said he wants to discuss the conflict with ukraine's president elect rather ms alinsky. in france anti-government yellow vest protesters have charged to police in the city of strasburg. the group tried to cross a bridge to get to the european parliament but were pushed back by riot police it's the twenty fourth weekend in a row that yellow vest demonstrations have been held across france the protests come despite president mark on outing a series of tax cuts this week aimed appeasing the movement. when other developments professional mountain climbers have been deployed to paris to in paris to protect not cathedral from further damage ahead of a storm that's due to hit the french capital the climbers have covered exposed parts of the eight hundred fifty year old building destroyed by a fire earlier this month the cathedral has already suffered water damage after firefighters fought the blaze for more than twelve hours its feared heavy rain getting into the building would hamper the reconstruction process which is already

likely to take up to six years. well spanish reuters adding to the polls on sunday for their third election in less than four years no single party is predicted to win an outright majority after a campaign dominated by the issue of catalonia and its dry for independence separatist leaders in the region have been rallying supporters ahead of the vote some of them from prison john howell has more now from the catalan capital barcelona. the letters of support arrived from regularly after eighteen months in prison and on trial in a drip catalans haven't forgotten pro independence former interior minister for him and his wife lara and their daughters know that you are kim hasn't forgotten them. doesn't doesn't it was us. here. next year we don't celebrate together and he's. probably. the trial of twelve cattle and independence

leaders on charges of rebellion sedition and misuse of public funds follows the region's referendum and unilateral declaration of independence which was met by police violence in two thousand and seventeen it's taken on heavy significance for a movement struggling to reassert itself last in search of a way to achieve its goal. i see very clearly that people don't feel like compromising in this ends up giving up of recognizing a renowned i don't see that it is possible that some people may think that we need more time that it doesn't have to be an immediate but i don't see any reason nation at all. if not now then what is to happen in the interim at the national level spain's socialist government may pay a heavy price in this weekend's election for its attempts to negotiate over

catalonia a surge in support for the far right nationalist vox party risks dragging the entire political landscape to the right making a compromise over cattle and separatist aspirations seem less likely than ever if those first shift to the right and the radical right in spain everything is going to be more difficult because this practice in the right of the explicit proposal of imposing itself. again so it's not going to be only a matter off of. in the pens project but they're very. very core of their self government on the old don i mean that was recovered during their off of the market and so perhaps inevitably there's a quiet shift towards a more pragmatic approach is this it is hard to see the republicans unless the main political party of the roughly fifty percent of catalonia some support independents some of its leaders and you can see they are in prison addressing the crowd here by

live video link the message increasingly is that unilateral action didn't work the way forward now is through does long and political legitimacy. that means winning as many seats as possible in the national parliament and influencing change from within the dream of independence isn't getting any closer but it does remain very much alive al-jazeera barcelona. well the people have been ino also voting for a new parliament on sunday but for them as not much of a choice the electoral commission has barred five opposition parties from the election and the only two parties left on the ballot are both loyal to the president i'm a voice on reports from the commercial capital katona. but campaigning for these elections has been everything but business as usual there are two parties able to field candidates for eighty three national assembly positions and they're both pro-government. according to the electoral commission none of the opposition

parties met the requirements of a new electoral code and charter of political parties one view from the eligible republican block party is that the opposition party simply couldn't get organized in time to meet the requirements. it's also about taxes most of the national assembly members who cannot take part in this election have been in government over the last ten years and have properties and business interests and companies and now they can't meet their tax bills so they're not eligible for us in the republican party we are not only proud to be taking part in this election we're also doing our best to defend the constitution that's not the view from the other side opposition politicians believe the eligibility ruling is a deliberate move to fill the national assembly with candidates that will comply with the president's agenda to force the don't. just like it's a legislative coup and for us in opposition it is not acceptable we cannot endorse what's happening whichever way you look as if this is an unprecedented situation so

much so that it's prompted religious leaders traditional regional chiefs the west african bloc. and non-governmental organizations also to lobby the president to intervene however the president says the polls on sunday should go ahead the assembly failed to reach an agreement on a constitutional way forward following the announcement in march that the opposition parties were ineligible according to a prominent civil society activist what's happening takes the country back decades so. it's unfortunate it's sad and it's a step back for our democratic tradition and been in and it's contrary to article three of our constitution since multiple. the democracy the people of britain have had the right to vote with legitimate options and this is a part of their sovereignty and now millions of been in years will be denied that right. as the country prepares to vote many are wondering what will happen next

as they find themselves in unfamiliar territory i'm reporting al-jazeera. south africans are marking the twenty fifth anniversary of the end of apartheid on this day in one thousand nine hundred four people of all races were allowed to vote for the first time in the country's history people have also used the day to call for more jobs for south africa's black majority. or the protests broke out in the town where the freedom day celebrations were taking place the demonstrators say they lack basic living standards and for them a pass a never ended. but progress has been made since nelson mandela's revolution ended minority white rule many criticize the ruling african national congress party though the slow pace of progress harma tasa has more from john is back. marked them uneasy remembers the feeling of euphoria in one thousand nine hundred four when apartheid ended and nelson mandela became south africa's first black

president she believed in the white minority rule would mean a better life for the poor black majority after decades of oppression since then she's been waiting for the government to provide her with a decent home and she hasn't managed to find work in years if she was hunters. open up my cupboards and see i have nothing no food i have to go outside and house in order to eat something before going to be so why should i take my id book and go out there to vote when i'm suffering. in soweto township. he was a member of the football club founded in the one nine hundred eighty s. by nelson mandela's wife winnie a group that was politically active during apartheid twenty five years after the end of racial segregation he says he's angry and disappointed with the african national congress led government. jobs. we are hungry is because of those guys not the.